Starcrossed
by GitaMerah
Summary: Cats are pets and humans are their masters... right? What happens when the line between the two gets blurred? Misto/human pairing & Munk/Jemi in later chapters
1. Mistoffelees: Spoon Thief Extraordinaire

**WARNING:** **Misto/human pairing. **You have been warned, so don't blame me if you decide to keep on reading anyway. I wasn't going to post this at first because, well.. it's a Misto/human pairing and I'm not sure how many people like that. But… meh. I figured, one of you has got to like it, right? … Right? (Hears crickets chirp.) _Sigh…_

Other pairings: Munk/Jemima in later chapters (Before you cringe, I'd like to point out that this story is based mostly on the DVD version. Since I didn't notice any evidence of Munk/Deme pairing in the DVD, or even any hint that Jemima is Munk's daughter, I'm going to assume that Jemima is _not_ Munk's daughter and that Munk & Deme are not mated).

And possible Bomba/Tugger (maybe one-sided. I haven't decided yet, though.)

Note: In order to avoid confusion, I decided that Mr. Mistoffelees is the name his human gave him. That way, I don't have to keep switching between Mistoffelees and 'Fluffy' everytime I change scenes. Besides, he's not the only cat using his 'normal' name among the Jellicles. If you listen carefully to "The Naming of Cats", you'll notice that there are several cats who go around using their non-Jellicle names— like Electra, Demeter, Plato and Pouncival. So, maybe Mistoffelees is also one of those 'sensible, everyday names'?

Oh and Quaxo & Mistoffelees are two separate characters in this fic.

I'm also taking some creative license in this fic, especially on things like Jellicles having two forms: a normal, cat one and the 'Jellicle' form, a.k.a., the human-sized form we see in the musical.

Also, I don't know much about England, much less London and the surrounding areas. I did as much research as I could, but since I've never actually _been_ to England, I'm bound to make mistakes. If you spot any, please let me know!

Disclaimer: I don't own Cats… or dogs, hamsters, or any other furry creatures at home. Oh, wait… you mean Cats _the musical_? Yeah, I don't own that, either. I don't make any money out of this. I don't take donations, either— although Mistoffelees probably wouldn't mind getting a yummy rice pudding. Oh, and Cats belong to T. S. Elliot and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

_Honest reviews are appreciated. Even if you don't like it, at least tell me why. Although, I'd like to point out that if you give me nice reviews, I __**might **__be persuaded to give Bomba & Tugger a happy ending, heh heh heh…_

* * *

**Chapter 1**

Elizabeth came home tired and grumpy after a stressful day at work. All she wanted to do was curl up on the sofa, watch TV while cuddling with her cat— speaking of which, where was that darned cat, anyway? The little black tuxedo cat of hers always disappeared whenever she looked for him, only to turn up later when she wasn't looking— like when she was about to take a shower or when she had a pile of paper on the desk and didn't want to be disturbed. Sometimes, she wondered if that cat had some psychic ability because he certainly seems to know when to show up and when to disappear.

"Mistoffelees? Mistoooffeeleeees!!" Elizabeth called out.

No answer. There was not even a hint of his tiny black tail anywhere.

She sighed, then placed her bag down by the door and went into the kitchen.

"Ice cream. I could really use some ice cream right about now," Elizabeth said. She took out a bowl and a spoon from the cupboard and set them on the counter. Then, she went to the fridge to get her favorite mint chocolate ice cream. Once she got it, she went back to the kitchen counter, then paused and stared in confusion.

"Hey, where'd my spoon go?" Elizabeth frowned. She looked on the floor, behind the counter, heck, even in the drawer under the counter, but found no traces of the said spoon.

"I could've sworn I put that sp—" Elizabeth trailed off when a thought popped in her mind. She opened the cupboards and searched for that fish paste she was saving up for a pasta dish she wanted to cook tonight.

Naturally, the fish paste was gone.

"MISTOFFELEES!!" Elizabeth yelled out. When the said cat still hadn't turned up, Elizabeth sighed and looked in the drawer for another spoon.

Such was the life of a cat owner.

oOo

Mistoffelees grinned when he looked at his latest creation. It was a simple trick, really. All it took was a bit of fish paste and a spoon (which he had stolen from his human when she wasn't looking). He wanted to make a moving, toy mouse for the newest kitten in the family, Rosiefiddle. She was tiny, young kitten— barely three months old —whom Munkustrap had found abandoned last week in an alley near the Jellicles' junkyard. She was so small, dirty and malnourished when they found her. She was young; too young to have a Jellicle form yet— and certainly too young to be out on her own. No one knew how the kitten got there or who her parents were. They suspected her parents might've been someone from Macavity's tribe. That gang did have a tendency to abandon the weakest of their brood.

With a pleased look on his face, Mistoffelees carried the newly made toy mouse in his hand and bounded off towards the junk yard. When he got there, there were a few Jellicles out and about. He scanned the junkyard for the raggedy little kitten, Rosiefiddle, then grinned when he spotted her pouncing on Munkustrap's tail— and missed. But the young kitten wasn't deterred. She crouched low behind Munkustrap, who was observing all this with an amused grin, then pounced again on the said tail— and promptly missed again when Munk moved his tail just in the nick of time.

Mistoffelees dropped the toy mouse in front of the excitable young kitten and sat down in front of her and Munkustrap.

"Look what I brought you, Rosie," Misto said with a grin.

"Mew? What is it?" Rosiefiddle sniffed the toy mouse, looked at it from side to side, then prodded it suspiciously. When she prodded it, the toy mouse jumped! Startled, Rosiefiddle leapt back and flattened her ears. But the mouse kept running in circles, taunting her. Soon, curiosity won out. Rosie's tail began to swish to and fro as she reared back, shook her tiny butt in the air, then pounced on the mice.

"I thought she'd never let go of my tail," Munkustrap said with an amused sparkle in his eyes as the tiny kitten continued to play with the toy mouse.

"I thought you could use a break from our little huntress," Mistoffelees grinned, then padded over to sit next to Munkustrap.

"The queens seem to think Rosiefiddle is Grizabella— or _was _Grizabella, anyway," Munkustrap said.

"She might be. Who knows? Old Deuteronomy did send her onto the Heavyside Layer. She was supposed to be reborn into a new Jellicle life. Maybe this is it," Mistoffelees said, then added, "Do they look alike?"

"Who? Grizabella and Rosie?" Munk asked.

"Yes. You know I'm not old enough to remember what Grizabella was like before she left," Misto said.

Munkustrap's eyes widened. "That's right. I'm not even sure if you were here yet at the time— either that, or you were too young to remember. She looks almost nothing like she did when she returned. Her brown coat was much better looking back then. Pale brown, smooth, well-groomed— and a jet black coat on her underside. Almost like…" Munk frowned as he tried to find the right word to say.

"Like Rosie here?" Mistoffelees said, then corrected himself and said, "Or, well… they _would_ look alike once Rosie regrows all her fur."

Munkustrap's eyes widened. He looked at the kitten, who was still playing with the toy mouse, then said, "You're right. They probably wouldlook alike."

"Maybe she _is_ Grizabella," Mistoffelees said while looking at Rosiefiddle. The said kitten, however, couldn't care less what the adults were talking about and was much more content chasing after the magical toy mouse Mistoffelees had given her.

"If she is, she don't think she remembers anything about her life as Grizabella," Munkustrap said.

Mistoffelees looked at the kitten, who looked like the picture of perfect happiness as she pounced on the toy mouse he'd brought her. He recalled how sad Grizabella had been, then sighed.

"Maybe it's just as well that she doesn't. It would give her a fresh new start," Mistoffelees finally said.

"Yes… speaking of new starts… you should be old enough to find a mate by next Jellicle Ball, right?" Munkustrap said.

"Ahh… well… uh… heheh…" Mistoffelees shuffled nervously, then hastily said, "Mrreow! Would you look at the time? I think I'd better head back! My human would be serving dinner anytime soon. In fact, I think I hear her calling now! Bye!"

"I don't hear anythi—" Munkustrap was about to point out.

But Mistoffelees was already gone.

Munkustrap sighed, then shook his head with a smile.

"Mew? Where'd Uncle Misto go?" Rosie looked up from the toy mouse she was playing with.

"Home. For dinner— which is what you should be doing too, young lady. Come on, let's go hunt some real mice!" Munkustrap smiled at the young kitten.

"Mew!" Rosie mewled excitedly and promptly forgot about the toy mouse as she followed her Uncle Munk out the junkyard.

oOo

"Mew!" Something soft rubbed against her leg. Elizabeth looked down and saw her missing tuxedo cat purring as he wound his way between her feet, purring as he went.

"There you are! I've been looking all over for you, mister!" Elizabeth bent down and picked up Mistoffelees. She held the cat up to face her and said, "Now what did you do with my spoon and fish paste?"

"Mew?" Mistoffelees blinked and looked at her with innocent-looking eyes.

Elizabeth looked at him, then sighed. "No fair! How come I can never get angry at you, Mistoffelees? Why do you always have to look at me with such adorable, lost-kitten eyes when I know perfectly well how guilty you are?"

Mistoffelees purred.

"Nuh-uh. You are _so_ guilty, Mister. Now I expect my spoon back or I'm changing your name to… to Lassie!" Elizabeth said jokingly.

Mistoffelees stopped purring. In fact, the said cat had flattened his ears and was looking at her with something akin to horror.

"Meeew?" Mistoffelees mewled pitifully.

Elizabeth's eyes sparkled with mischief. "In fact… I think the name Lassie suits you. Now how about that? A cat named Lassie. How'd you like that, huh _Lassie_?" Elizabeth grinned at the horrified-looking cat.

Then, with a mischievous glint in her eyes, Elizabeth cocked her head and pretended to be listening for something. Then, she looked at Mistoffelees and said with a grin, "What's that boy? Timmy's in the well?"

"Meeoowwrrr…" Mistoffelees yowled, which Elizabeth had always interpreted as the cat's equivalent to a groan. His tail started swishing to and fro.

Elizabeth chuckled, then brought the cat to her chest and cradled him while she patted his head comfortingly.

"I'm just kidding. You really are too easy to scare, you know that?" Elizabeth said in amusement.

"Meowrr," Mistoffelees let out an indignant yowl. His tail, however, finally stopped twitching, which meant he was finally beginning to relax.

"Come on, I bet you're hungry. How about… let's see… how does liver sound to you?" Elizabeth asked.

"Mew!" Appeased for now, Mistoffelees mewled happily.

"Liver it is, then!" Elizabeth chuckled, then added, "You know, sometimes I wonder if you really do understand me. Maybe I'm imagining things, but you certainly act like you do."

"Mew?" Mistoffelees mewed in response.

Elizabeth smiled and shook her head. _Conversing with cats now? Good thing I live alone, or people would think I'm crazy._

oOo

Mistoffelees stretched out lazily as he laid in front of the fireplace. It had been a good dinner. Liver was one of his favorites, though he wouldn't say no to a bowl of rice pudding. His human's attentions were fixed on the computer on the desk. In fact, she was so wrapped up in that computer-thing that she had become completely oblivious to him for the past hour or two. It was starting to annoy him, actually. Oh sure, humans often call cats aloof creatures, but that didn't mean they could ignore their cats. One simply does not ignore a cat. It's the _cat_ who should be the one to ignore humans, not the other way around.

An idea formed in his mind. _I could jump up there and sit on her keyboard_, he thought. Then, thinking back to her earlier, Lassie comment, he promptly changed his mind.

_Maybe I should wait until she forgets about the spoon incident_, Mistoffelees thought with a cringe. He rather liked his current name and had absolutely no desire to be named after a _dog_, thank you very much.

Suddenly, he felt something in the back of his mind. It was an uncomfortable feeling, like a sudden thought that something was terribly wrong. His heart began to beat rapidly out of some unidentifiable fear.

Mistoffelees jumped to his feet. He sniffed the air, but couldn't smell anything amiss.

Never one to ignore his instincts, he decided to investigate. He padded over to the window and jumped onto the windowsill. He looked out, trying to spot any unusual movements out there. It was dark outside, but not dark enough to keep him from being able to see clearly. He was, after all, a Jellicle cat.

He saw nothing unusual outside.

Still, the nagging sense of something wrong would not leave him. Mistoffelees roamed around the house, checking every nook and cranny for something he could neither name nor identify. But there was nothing out of the ordinary in the house, though he did find his human's missing black socks stuck under the sofa.

Not deterred, Mistoffelees decided to check outside. He padded over to the door to the backyard and exited through the pet door that his human had installed for him.

oOo

He reappeared in the garden behind the house. He sniffed the air… and froze. His fur immediately stood on its ends as he arched his back in alarm. He knew that scent. He had smelled it before, but never here. Never so close to humans.

_Macavity!_ Mistoffelees thought in alarm. But what was the Hidden Paw doing here? What could he possibly want?

Either way, Mistoffelees knew he had to get help. There was no way he could face Macavity alone. He needed to run to the junkyard and alert the rest of the Jellicles, especially Munkustrap.

Mistoffelees turned and was about to run towards the junkyard when shadowy, scraggly figures jumped out of the bushes.

_Macavity's_ _henchcats_, Mistoffelees thought warily. Fear gripped his heart. He had never battled Macavity or his henchcats alone. It was always Munkustrap and the other, older toms who fought against Macavity and his henchcats whenever they attacked. Mistoffelees weren't even_ in_ that last battle between the Jellicles and Macavity. He had been at home with his human, completely unaware of what was going on.

Mistoffelees hissed at them. They were tall— as tall as Jellicles and humans. He knew he had to revert back to his Jellicle form if he would even have a slightest chance against Macavity's men. Mistoffelees transformed. His form grew tall as he changed into his Jellicle form. Tall and proud he stood, despite the fear gripping his heart.

Then, they all jumped at him. He sent a bolt of lightning on one, but two of them jumped on top of him. He clawed blindly, sending bolts of lightning left and right. Pained yowls surrounded him. For a brief moment, his attackers jumped back. But then, before Mistoffelees could run, they leapt at him again.

He threw his bolt of lightning blindly. He could've sworn he hit at least one of his attackers. But before he could strike again, he felt his arms and legs pinned to the ground. Unable to move, Mistoffelees growled and hissed. Then, an idea struck him.

Quickly, Mistoffelees reverted back to his normal cat form. His attackers lost their grip on him. Furious, they too, reverted to their cat form, then jumped at him. They hissed and clawed at him while Mistoffelees tried vainly to dodge their claws. But they were too many and too big compared to him.

Mistoffelees staggered. He was losing blood quickly. He held his ground as much as he was able, but the cats continued to claw at him and bite him.

And then, there he was, the image that had haunted his nightmares ever since he was a young kitten.

_Macavity_.

Macavity's fur was long and shaggy, with streaks of auburn here and there, giving the cat the appearance of having flames around his body due to his coloring. His claws were long and black and his fangs were sharp— sharper and longer than most cats.

Macavity grinned in malicious triumph. He was about to speak when another voice, clear, female, and _human_, called out.

"Hey!" Called out a female voice. Macavity and his henchcats paused. There was a human looking out from the window. Thankfully, most of them, including Mistoffelees, were in their cat forms— but Macavity was not.

"It's a human!! Run!" One of the henchcats hissed in alarm. Quickly, they began to scatter. Macavity wavered, as if he wasn't sure whether to stay and fight the human or to flee.

"Who's there?!?" Called the human.

Macavity hissed, then quickly fled the scene, leaving a bloodied, half-conscious Mistoffelees lying on the grass.

Mistoffelees drifted in and out of consciousness. He vaguely heard the sound of human footsteps and doors opening and closing, but he was too far gone to notice it.

oOo

Elizabeth had been trying to finish her work all night when she heard cats caterwauling outside her house. She grumbled and slammed her pen down in irritation.

"Honestly, what does a girl need to do to get some peace and quiet around here?" Elizabeth complained. Then, she sighed. "At least you're quiet, Mistoffelees." She turned towards the fire where she knew the cat was sleeping, but he wasn't there.

"Mistoffelees?" Elizabeth frowned. She sighed and shook her head. That darned cat had disappeared again.

The sound of caterwauling grew louder, accompanied by hissing and growling.

"Goodness! What the hell are these cats doing outside?" Elizabeth got up and walked towards the window. It sounds like a bunch of tomcats fighting— probably over a female or over territory. Still, couldn't they do it elsewhere?

She opened the drapes and peeked out the window. At first, she could barely see anything, since it was dark and she hadn't bothered to turn on the lamp in her backyard.

Then, she saw a tall silhouette of a man with long, shaggy hair. On the ground below him was a yowling, hissing, growling mass of… cats?

Elizabeth's heart leapt in fear. Somebody had broken into her backyard! She quickly opened the window and yelled, "Hey!!"

The man paused, he briefly turned towards her. Elizabeth yelped in shock. For a brief second, she thought she was looking at a demon. Was it her imagination, or did the man have fangs and claws?

She blinked, willing her heart to calm down. When she looked again, he had turned away from her and was looking at the mass of yowling and hissing cats on the ground.

Elizabeth took long, deep breaths. _Okay, calm down. It's probably just a normal man with a long, shaggy hair. Besides, it's dark. My eyes are probably playing tricks on me. Yeah, that's it... just… tricks. _

Still, tricks or not, there was still the fact that there was a strange man standing in her backyard. She summoned all her courage and yelled out, "Who's there?!?"

The man… hissed? _Odd_, Elizabeth thought. But before she could get another good look at him, he had fled, accompanied by a trail of cats.

Elizabeth stood frozen. Her heart was still hammering like crazy. Her mind kept replaying the scene over and over again. In her mind's eye, she recalled seeing him with fangs and claws. But the rational part of her mind insisted that there are no such thing as a fanged and clawed man.

_He's just a man, maybe a prankster, wearing a… a scary mask of some kind. Yeah, that's it. A mask. It's not that hard to get a mask like that. Any ol' halloween store would sell one… right?_

Regardless of what he was, Elizabeth knew she would never feel safe tonight, alone in her apartment with only a tiny cat for company. That strange man in her backyard could've been a robber, a murderer, or perhaps even an escaped convict.

_At least he's gone now. I hope I scared him away,_ Elizabeth thought.

She looked outside to make sure that the man really was gone. It was then that she spotted a tiny black form crumpled on the grass. She frowned. It looked like… a cat?

Elizabeth quickly shut the window, then ran out the backyard. She cautiously approached the tiny lump on the ground… then gasped when she recognized what— or rather _who_ it was.

"Mistoffelees!" Elizabeth cried out. Her adorable, tiny, black tuxedo cat had scratches and blood all over his once sleek fur.

She ran inside to get a towel, then ran back out, picked up Mistoffelees and wrapped him in the towel. Then, she went inside and laid him on the floor of the living room.

"Oh, please, please be alive!" Elizabeth cried as she checked the cat's injuries. The cat gave a tiny whimper— barely even a mewl. But when Elizabeth heard it, she sighed in relief. He was alive! Barely, but alive nonetheless.

She ran to get a bowl of water and some first aid kit. Then, she returned and set the bowl of water next to her cat and dipped a hand towel into it. She wrung it out, then gently cleaned the blood off Mistoffelees' fur.

The cat screeched and yowled in pain.

"Sssh.. there, there… I have to clean your wounds now," Elizabeth murmured soothingly. With slow, gentle movements, she wiped the blood off a long scratch mark across his side.

Mistoffelees hissed.

"I know, it hurts, but you'll feel better once I'm done," Elizabeth said softly. She tried to be as gentle as she could with the wounds. Inwardly, she was seething. What kind of a sick psycho would do this to a poor, innocent animal?

"If I ever catch that man outside, I swear I'll—" She stopped when Mistoffelees suddenly hissed and yowled. Loudly.

"Sssh, alright, alright. I know it hurts. Just be patient, it'll be over in a minute," Elizabeth gently cleaned his wounds. Mistoffelees began to whimper, but Elizabeth continued to clean his wounds.

Then, Mistoffelees started to shiver. Unsure of what was going on or whether she did something wrong or not, Elizabeth paused.

Suddenly, his form began to waver, like an amoeba reshaping itself. His tiny paws began to grow bigger and longer. His head and torso grew as well. His face began to change shape.

Elizabeth shook in fear. She dropped the towel she was holding and crawled away from Mistoffelees— or whatever it was. What the hell was going on? What was this thing?

The cat's limbs grew until it barely resembled that of a cat's anymore. In fact, he looked almost… human. He still had a tail, though it was much longer now. His ears were still triangular and cat-like. He still had fur all over his body— black and white like a tuxedo… just like Mistoffelees. But his face… his face was… almost human, though it was still very much cat-like in appearance.

"M-Mistoffelees?" Elizabeth called out fearfully.

There was no response. He seemed to be in so much pain that he barely even registered her being there.

"M..Mistoffelees?" Elizabeth said. Hesitantly, she crept towards him. She prodded his arm with a finger.

He yowled like a cat. Startled, Elizabeth jumped back in fear. She stayed back, watching the strange cat-man with a mixture of fear and curiosity. Who is he? What is he? And what happened to Mistoffelees? Was he really Mistoffelees? Or was this some weird… alien… being… thing…whom she had mistaken as her cat?

He hissed in pain and laid on his back. Elizabeth saw the huge gashes that she had partially cleaned out. There were more on the other side. His once sleek coat was marred with blood— _red_ blood, not green or some other weird, alien color.

_He's in pain_, Elizabeth thought. The cat-man was still grimacing and whimpering in pain. Sympathy rose within her. Hesitantly, she picked up the towel, dipped it in the bowl of water, then gently dabbed it over his wounds.

He hissed and squirmed away from her.

"S..Stop squirming... whoever… whatever you are. Please… let me clean your wounds," Elizabeth said, hoping he wouldn't find her words threatening.

He sighed and laid back down.

Elizabeth looked at him one last time. His eyes were barely open, as if he was barely conscious. She tentatively touched him with the tip of the wet towel.

He didn't squirm away.

Taking that as a sign, she began to clean his wounds. He continued to hiss and yowl in pain. He would squirm— but not as much as before. At least now, he was letting her clean his wounds.

Once the blood had been cleaned off, she set the towel back in the bowl, then dug in her first aid kit for bandages and antibiotic ointment. She dressed his wounds, for they were many. By the time she was done, parts of his chest, arms and legs were wrapped in bandages while his face had band-aids and square patches of bandages in various places.

"There, all done," Elizabeth sighed in relief. She hesitated a moment, unsure of what to do now that she had finished tending to his wounds. She had so many questions, but he didn't appear to be conscious enough to answer them.

She decided to let him be for the moment. She got up and picked up the bowl, the towel and her first aid kit. Before she left, she paused and turned back to look at him.

She couldn't just leave him on the floor like this, but… how was she going to get him to her bed? Or even the sofa?

Elizabeth sighed and decided to leave him where he was for now. Perhaps when he was more conscious, he could get up and move to the sofa or the bed.

After she set away the bowl and the first aid kit, she headed back to her desk to resume her work. But a fearful thought struck her. What if that strange man came back later?

With that thought in mind, Elizabeth went all around her house and locked every door and window. She checked to make sure the man wasn't hiding somewhere in her house. Thankfully, he wasn't.

Not quite relieved, but no longer fearful for her life, Elizabeth went back to work on her desk. As she passed by the cat-man, she couldn't help but pause and wonder. Who was he? Why did he look so much like Mistoffelees? And where was that darned cat of hers? Surely, this cat-man couldn't be him?

Elizabeth frowned, then shook her head and forced herself to focus on her work. But still, she couldn't help but glance back at the cat-man from time to time.

_Was he really Mistoffelees?_


	2. So You're a Jellicle

**Chapter 2**

Mistoffelees drifted in and out of consciousness. He recalled hearing a gentle, familiar voice, lulling him to relax despite the pain he was in. But now, the voice was gone. The pain remained, but they were not as sharp as before. Deep in the back of his mind, he knew he still had to run to the junkyard to warn the tribe. Macavity was on the move again. The Jellicles would have to remain vigilant now.

Mistoffelees forced himself to wake up. He groaned. He was sleeping on the floor again. Wait… floor? He was… inside?

He blinked and looked around him. He was back at his human's house. How did he get here? Did she carry him here?

He heard the unmistakable sound of human footsteps. He glanced up and saw his human walking slowly towards him. She stopped a few feet away from him, as if she was hesitant to approach him.

Mistoffelees frowned. What's wrong with her? She had never been this fearful around him before. Unsure of what's going on, he decided to wait and see what she would do before moving towards her.

She crouched in front of him, but did not touch him like she usually would. Seeing her so close, Mistoffelees finally realized something. She wasn't as big as she usually was. In fact, everything in this house seemed somewhat… smaller.

"Wh-what are you?" She asked hesitantly.

"Mew?" Mistoffelees frowned. What did she mean, 'What are you'? He was a cat. She _knew_ he was a cat. Hadn't she just said so a few hours ago, when she was threatening to change his name to Lassie?

"Can you… talk?" She asked.

Mistoffelees blinked. Now he was really confused. Since when do humans ask cats if they could talk? Cats do not talk to humans. Period. That was almost an unspoken rule among Jellicles. So why would she ask him if he could talk?

Unless…

A suspicion nagged in the back of his mind. Slowly, all the clues began to pile up in his mind: the seemingly smaller size of the room, how much smaller his human appeared to him now, her hesitation, her questions…

Mistoffelees raised his paw in front of him— except, instead of a normal cat's paw, he saw a furry hand.

Mistoffelees' eyes widened. His ears flattened against his head as it finally dawned upon him.

He had transformed in front of his human!

A million curses ran through his mind. What should he do? What would _she_ do? Would she scream? Hand him over to the animal shelter? What would Old Deuteronomy say? What would Munkustrap say?

_I am in serious trouble_, thought Mistoffelees.

He wondered if disappearing right now would be an option. He sat up— then hissed when pain shot up throughout his body. _Damn_, thought Mistoffelees. _So much for escaping._ He could barely even move.

"I'd give you something for the pain, but I don't know if cats— or whatever it is you are —can take pain-killers," she said.

Mistoffelees looked at her hesitantly. It was clear that she was still afraid of him. He needed to diffuse her fear, lest she do something that could threaten his life and his tribe.

"You… you're a… what _are_ you?" She asked.

"I'm a Jellicle cat," he finally answered.

The moment he spoke, she gasped in surprise and drew back slightly.

"You… you can _talk_?!?" She looked at him in shock.

"Uh… yes?" Mistoffelees replied hesitantly. Had he made a bad move? Perhaps he shouldn't have talked at all? He looked at her, unsure of what she would do now that she knew he could talk.

She still wouldn't approach him, though she was starting to lean forward to look at him with curious eyes.

"You _look_ like Mistoffelees… I mean, you have the same tuxedo pattern as he does…. but you're a… and he's a…" She trailed off and frowned in confusion and suspicion.

"I _am_ Mistoffelees. P-please… don't… don't send me away?" He pleaded. He gave her his best, lost-kitten look— the one he _knew_ she always fell for (well, usually, anyway).

To his relief, her expression softened.

"Heck, you even have his lost-kitten look," she said. She frowned, then hesitantly crawled over to him. "So… you're really Mr. Mistoffelees?"

"Yes," he said, somewhat relieved that she seemed to believe him.

"Prove it," she said.

Mistoffelees sighed. What could he do to prove to her that he really was the same cat who had lived with her for the last two years?

_Lassie!_ Mistoffelees thought. No one knew about that conversation besides the two of them!

"Uh… Lassie! You said you'd change my name to Lassie if I don't return your spoon!" Mistoffelees said, hoping it would jog her memory.

She froze.

"How'd you know about—" she frowned. Then, as realization dawned upon her, her eyes widened. "Mistoffelees? Is that really you?"

"Yes," Mistoffelees said.

Her jaws dropped in surprise. She crawled over to him, then touched his face, his ears, and his hands (though she was careful not to touch his wounds). It felt odd to him, being touched in such a curious way, but he said nothing. Instead, he let her do as she pleased, in hopes it would help her believe that he really was her cat. Besides, he didn't want to scare her again.

"You look so… human— in a feline sort of way," she said in absolute shock and awe. "And you can talk! You can talk this whole time and you never said a thing beyond _meow_?!?"

"I… uh… I… mew?" Mistoffelees mewled unsurely, but his human was hardly listening. She was in too much of a shock right now.

"And… and… how in the world is it possible that you… well… goodness! _Look_ at you! Can you always change forms like this? Is this your real form? So you're not really a cat at all, but a… a… what was it you said… Jelly… Jellie.."

"Jellicle cat," Mistoffelees offered.

"Yes! _That!_" Elizabeth said.

"But Jellicles _are_ cats. We just don't show our Jellicle form to humans— well, until you, that is," Mistoffelees said.

Elizabeth frowned. She slowly crept even closer to him until she was sitting right next to where he lay.

"So… are all cats like you? Do all cats have, uh… Jellicle forms like you?" She asked.

"I, uh… I don't know. Maybe. I wouldn't know, since we don't always meet each other in our Jellicle forms." Mistoffelees shrugged.

"And that man who was outside with you and all the cats earlier… he's… a Jellicle cat too?" She asked.

Mistoffelees' eyes widened. "You saw him?!?"

"You know who he is?" Elizabeth frowned.

"He's Macavity. He's a cat— a master criminal. Those cats you saw are his henchcats," Mistoffelees said. "Did he see you?"

"Yes— wait, he's a cat? So he can transform, just like you?" Elizabeth frowned.

"Yes. And he's dangerous. If you see him again, run away. Don't try to fight him," Mistoffelees said.

"Is that why you were hurt? Were you trying to fight him?" Elizabeth raised an eyebrow.

Mistoffelees cowered. "I was ambushed. I felt something. So I went outside to investigate. That's when I finally smelled him. Macavity. Then his henchcats ambushed me. I was in my Jellicle form and so were they. I fought, but eventually they managed to pin me down. I reverted back to my cat form to get away, but so did they. And then _he_ appeared."

"Macavity."

"Yes. And… I don't remember what happened next. I think he left before he could say anything," Mistoffelees said with a thoughtful frown.

"So, that's probably when I saw him and yelled at him. They all ran as soon as they saw me," Elizabeth muttered. She paused, then looked at Mistoffelees curiously. "So you really are Mistoffelees?"

Mistoffelees' tail twitched in annoyance. How many times would he have to tell her he's Mistoffelees before she would believe him?

"Yes," He replied.

Elizabeth sat back. Her face still looked somewhat stunned at the revelation.

"This is so _weird_. Do you realize how incredibly weird this is? I am _talking_ to a _cat_," Elizabeth said.

"You talk to me everyday," Mistoffelees said, slightly affronted.

"Yeah, but you never talk back."

"Yes I do."

"Meow doesn't count."

"It does _too_. It's cat-talk. You speak human. I speak cat."

Elizabeth was speechless. Well, he _did_ have a point… sort of.

Mistoffelees glanced at her. He needed desperately to ask her to keep the existence of Jellicle cats a secret. But he could sense that she still didn't fully believe that he really was the same cat who had lived with her for the last two years. Realizing how precarious her trust in him was at the moment, he decided to let the matter go— for now. He could only hope that she wouldn't tell anyone else before he got a chance to ask her to keep the Jellicles a secret.

Elizabeth kept looking at him curiously, as if she still couldn't get over the fact that her cat suddenly turned humanoid. After awhile, she looked away, apparently lost in thought. Then, she looked up when she remembered something. "You realize… this means I'm never letting you in the shower with me anymore, right?"

Mistoffelees frowned. "Why not?"

"Because!"

"Because….?" Mistoffelees was genuinely confused. What was so wrong about him being in the shower with her? She's never had a problem with it before.

"You're male," Elizabeth said, as if that explained everything.

"So?"

"So… I'm female. It's inappropriate," Elizabeth said.

"Why?"

"What do you mean, 'why'? It just is," Elizabeth said.

"But I've gone into the shower with you before. You never had a problem with it."

"Well, now I do," Elizabeth crossed her arms.

"Why?" Mistoffelees frowned. It's not that he enjoyed going into the shower with her. He simply liked to get in her way, that's all. And what better way to do that than to wound between her feet while she's trying to get into the shower in the morning?

"Mistoffelees…" Elizabeth started, then sighed and gave up. "Humans bathe alone. That's all."

"But… you don't always bathe alone. Sometimes I'm in there with you," Mistoffelees insisted.

"Yeah, well, that's before I found out you're… you're… well…"

"What?"

"Not just a… you know… a cat," Elizabeth finished lamely.

Mistoffelees wasn't sure whether to be offended or flattered by this. All he knew was that he was even more confused than before.

"But I've always been a cat. I still am," Mistoffelees said in confusion.

Elizabeth took a deep breath, as if trying to gather patience. Then, she looked at him and said, "Look, Mistoffelees… humans only bathe with other humans if they are the same gender, or they're parent and child, or if they're, ah… mates."

"Mates?" Mistoffelees raised his eyebrow.

"Yeah. You know, uh…"

"I know what 'mates' are. But… that doesn't explain why I can't go in the shower with you. I'm not even human," Mistoffelees frowned in confusion.

"Mistoffelees…" Elizabeth started to open her mouth, then changed her mind and said, "Look, just… don't go in the shower with me."

Mistoffelees wanted to protest, but at the warning look in her eyes, he sighed and said, "Fine."

After that, she helped Mistoffelees get up and lie down on the sofa.

That night was the strangest night in Elizabeth's life. Part of her was still horribly paranoid. There was a strange cat-man sleeping in her living room. The fact that he seems to be her pet cat, Mistoffelees, did nothing to ease her fears. She couldn't help but conjure up a million worst-case-scenarios. What if he wasn't really her Mistoffelees? What if he was actually a rapist, or a murderer, or a robber in disguise? What if his pained cries was all fake, designed to lull her into a false sense of security?

Still, there was that tiny voice in her heart that said, _what if he really was Mistoffelees?_

What if the adorable little tuxedo cat, whom she had rescued from the streets a couple of years ago, really was this odd, cat-man currently sleeping in her living room? If he was, then technically, he would still be her pet cat. Hence, his well-being was still her responsibility, cat-man or no cat-man.

Several times in the middle of the night, she would be tempted to go into the living room and check whether the _real_ Mr. Mistoffelees would turn up. But then... what if _he_ was awake? What excuse could she say to him? She didn't want him to be aware of her suspicion, should it turn out to be true.

She tossed and turn in her bed before finally giving up and deciding that she was just going to check in the morning.

oOo

Elizabeth spent the night in a restless sleep. She would literally jump awake at the slightest noise, only to realize that it was just the trees outside the window, or the refrigerator in the kitchen humming, or some other common, household noises.

When morning came, Elizabeth groggily got out of bed. She called in sick from work. She didn't want to leave Mistoffelees alone, anyway, not in his condition. Besides, what if he really wasn't Mistoffelees? Could she really leave an unknown cat-man alone in her house to do who-knows-what?

She went out into the living room to find Mistoffelees still in his humanoid form, asleep on the sofa. She sighed and decided to leave him be for now. She went into the kitchen and decided to grab a bowl of cereal and some milk for breakfast.

The minute she laid the spoon on the bowl, she smiled. She glanced towards the living room, where she _knew_ Mistoffelees was still sleeping. If anything, there was at least one perk to having a cat-turned-humanoid: he'd be a lot easier to track down. Who knows, maybe she wouldn't lose as many spoons this year.

"What does he do with those spoons, anyway?" Elizabeth mused out loud, then shook her head and sighed. As she sat down to eat at the dining table, she wondered what she ought to feed him, now that he's no longer just an ordinary house cat. Should she still feed him cat food? Should he still use his bowl?

Everything seemed so awkward. She wasn't even sure how to act around him anymore. Before, she could simply pick him up and pet him— even snuggle with him without so much as a by-your-leave. Now, she couldn't even do that without feeling as if she was molesting someone.

She heard a shuffling noise, followed by a displeased yowl coming from the living room.

Mistoffelees was finally awake.

She went to the living room to check. Sure enough, Mistoffelees was awake… and was in his cat form. Which meant, his bandages were off because they were now too large for his tiny, cat form.

"Mistoffelees!" Elizabeth said in exasperation. Mistoffelees was lying on his side on the sofa and was yowling and hissing in annoyance— not at her, but at his wounds. His wounds were still bleeding, though not as much as they did last night.

Mistoffelees transformed back into his Jellicle form. He had a displeased scowl on his feline face as he looked over his bleeding wounds. He started licking one of the scars in his hands.

"Now I'm going to have to re-bandage you," Elizabeth sighed.

"Ban-dage?" Mistoffelees frowned. "Those annoying white stuff you wrapped around me?"

"Those 'annoying' white stuff is the only thing stopping you from bleeding."

"Oh." Mistoffelees looked at the discarded bandages with a bemused frown.

Elizabeth got up to get the first aid kit. When she returned, she took out the bandages, then stopped. "You know what, I think you'd better change back into your cat fo— your smaller form. I'm going to have to take you to the vet."

"What?!? No! No vet!" Mistoffelees hissed and scooted away from her.

"Oh, don't be such a wuss. Do you want to get well or not? Besides, I need to make sure you didn't get any infections. You don't want those wounds to get worse, do you?"

"But…. but you cleaned my wounds!" Mistoffelees protested.

"Yes, but I'm no doctor. A vet would do a much better job than I do. Come on, transform so I can bandage you. After that, you can eat, and then we'll go to the vet," Elizabeth said matter-of-factly.

Mistoffelees made a show of protest, but at the thought of food, he grudgingly complied. Once back in his tiny, cat form, Elizabeth bandaged him. This time, he made much less fuss than he did last night, especially now that he knew what the bandages were for. After that, she decided to give him breakfast. At first, she wondered what she was going to feed him, now that she knew he's not a normal cat. Then again, he _was_ a cat— at the moment, anyway. So, ignoring the awkward feeling nagging at the back of her mind, she decided to make it simple and give him his favorite liver-flavored cat food for now. Thankfully, Mistoffelees didn't protest. In fact, he ate quite happily out of his regular bowl.

_Perhaps this won't be so hard after all, _Elizabeth thought. He was, after all, still a cat.

After his meal, she took him to the vet. Mistoffelees was oddly quiet in the car while on the way to the vet. A quick glance towards the backseat told her that he was either sleeping or trying not to look at trees and buildings zooming past the window. As usual, she left an open crate in the backseat whenever she travelled with him so that he'd have a safe place to hide in if he wanted to. This time, however, he chose to curl up on the seat next to the crate.

oOo

"Well… everything seems fine, no infections or anything," said the vet after checking Mistoffelees' wounds. Since some of his wounds were rather deep, the vet ended up having to suture the worst ones in order to encourage them to heal. Once done, they tested him for infections. Thankfully, the result came out negative. The vet looked at Elizabeth, then said, "You did a pretty good job bandaging him, actually. I'm surprised he didn't make a fuss."

"Oh, he did. Hissed, yowled— the works. He's such a crybaby," Elizabeth said with a smile. Her grin widened when she saw Mistoffelees' tail twitch in annoyance at her comment.

The vet laughed, which caused Mistoffelees' tail to twitch more.

"Try to keep him from moving around too much, if possible. You could try leaving him in his crate at night and when you go to work, just make sure you leave a litter box inside, and enough food and water. And limit playing with toys to a minimum, at least until the wound closes up. Change the bandages every day or two and everytime it gets wet. I'm giving him some prescription pain killers— but use it only if he's in too much pain. And no more than 3 doses per day, every six to eight hours. If you see any rashes or redness in the skin, or any other sign of infection, I want you to bring him here right away," said the vet.

Elizabeth thanked the vet. After paying the bill outside, she took Mistoffelees home.

oOo

Munkustrap was worried. There were rumors that Macavity was out and about. He had begun terrorizing the cats once more. Just yesterday, Skimbleshanks had come skittering into the junkyard, half out of his breath after running for who knows how long. The infamous railway cat had just had a run-in with Macavity, though he managed to get away, thanks to the coincidentally well-timed appearance of the human train conductor, who had come looking for Skimbles.

Most of the Jellicles now stayed in the junkyard, venturing out only when necessary. Those who had human families stayed in their human homes, venturing out at night only to socialize with the other Jellicles in the junkyard.

But, frightened as they were, most of the Jellicles had been accounted for. All, that is, except one.

Mr. Mistoffelees.

Munkustrap had seen neither whisker nor tail of the famous conjuring cat. Mistoffelees normally came to the junkyard almost on a daily basis. But now, no one's seen him for at least four days or so. Now, Munkustrap was getting seriously worried. Out of all the Jellicles Macavity might target, Mistoffelees would probably be somewhere near the top of that list— just below Old Deuteronomy —for it was Mistoffelees who 'rescued' Old Deuteronomy from Macavity's grasp last time by conjuring him. Munkustrap had a nagging suspicion that Macavity might be out for revenge.

He sincerely hoped not. As skilled as Mistoffelees was in magic, he was still a young, inexperienced tom when it came to battles.

"I'm going to look for Mistoffelees," Munkustrap announced while the cats were gathered around Old Deuteronomy.

"Mew?" Several kittens looked up.

"Meeew… I hope he's okay," Jemima said with a worried frown.

"Of course he is. He's _the_ Mr. Mistoffelees— the original _conjuring cat_. I'm sure he's fine," said Jellylorum while rubbing her head against Jemima's neck to comfort the young kitten.

Munkustrap looked to Old Deuteronomy for permission.

Old Deuteronomy nodded, but added, "Be careful."

"I will," Munkustrap said. Then, he turned into his cat form and bounded out of the junkyard in search of Mistoffelees.

* * *

_  
A/N: Uh-oh. Munkustrap's gone to look for Mitso. Will Misto get in trouble when Munk sees him? Tune in next week! Same time, same chan— er... nevermind. Anyway_, _I'll try to update once a week, maybe every Friday or so (unless my laptop decides to crash on me... again)._


	3. Wet Bandages

**Chapter 3**

Mistoffelees had been a very grumpy cat lately, though that was probably because of the bandages. It was no secret that cats hate bandages— and Mistoffelees was no exception. The first night had been lucky. He was probably in too much pain to protest. The second day, however, he began gnawing at his bandages until Elizabeth scolded him. Then he started getting them wet on purpose. Elizabeth locked the bathrooms, but then he got into the _kitchen_ sink, instead. Honestly, that cat was starting to drive her insane!

He hadn't transformed lately— which was probably a good thing, because he still had stitches on his wounds. She didn't know much about these transformations, but she certainly didn't want him to take chances and ruin his stitches in the process. She wasn't exactly sure if the stitches would transform along with him. If it didn't, it would only injure him further because the stitches wouldn't stretch along with his transformed body.

She changed his bandages daily (although, considering the numerous times he got them wet, it felt more like a dozen times a day). Today was the fourth day. She found him curled up on the sofa, as usual.

"Alright mister, time to change your bandages again," Elizabeth said as she knelt in front of the sofa and laid the bandages and ointments on the coffee table behind her. Mistoffelees woke up right away, eager to be rid of the bandages— even if it was only for five minutes.

She unwrapped his bandages and examined his wounds— or what was left of them anyway. She frowned, then raised her eyebrows in amazement.

"Wow. Your wounds are all closed up. I can't even see the stitches anymore. And it's only been what, three… four days?" Elizabeth muttered as she ran her fingers softly along his fur to examine the wounds.

"Meow," he answered. He got up, backed away from her, then transformed into his Jellicle form.

Elizabeth tried not to gasp. After that first transformation, he hadn't done it anymore, so it came as a bit of surprise for her to see him do so with such ease in front of her. It still felt surreal for her to see her pet cat turn into a humanoid (though feline) male. Seeing him in this form, he looked less like an animal and more like an alien to her— a furry, yet still humanoid enough to be recognizable alien.

Mistoffelees, however, was more concerned over his own wounds. He had a pleased look on his face as he looked down over his body.

"Y-you haven't transformed in days," Elizabeth said somewhat shakily. She was still stunned by his sudden transformation.

"I wasn't sure if the stitches would transform along with me," he answered.

"Yeah, I wasn't sure about that, either. Good thing you didn't transform until now," she paused and looked at his stitches— which are mostly gone by now. "But they've closed up nicely. I'm amazed they've healed so fast!" She wanted to get closer to examine his wounds while he was in this form, but she couldn't help but feel slightly intimidated by him. She stayed where she was, though her eyes focused on the wounds.

"I'm a Jellicle cat. We heal fast," he said with a proud grin.

"So I see," she said with a look of amazement in her eyes.

He looked at her with wide, hopeful eyes, then said, "Does this mean I don't have to wear the bandages anymore?"

"Yes. But you're not fully healed yet, so don't get your wounds dirty or anything," she replied, smiling at his enthusiasm at the prospect of not having to wear the bandages anymore.

"How do I keep them clean?" He asked with a frown.

"Don't sleep on the floor— at least until you're completely healed. Keep away from dirt— and yes, that means stay away from my potted plants. They're not food, anyway. I don't know why you like to chew on them so much," Elizabeth shook her head. She had a small potted fern that she set next to the front door. More than once, she had come home only to find half of the leaves all chewed up by Mistoffelees.

"I like the texture," he said, as if ferns were some sort of feline delicacy.

Elizabeth looked at him as if he'd suddenly grown two heads. "You know what, I don't even want to know. Just… stay away from the plants. And besides, we have better food in the house than potted plants. And now that you have hands, you can get food from the refrigerator," she said.

His eyes widened in surprise and delight. "I'm allowed to do that?"

Elizabeth raised her eyebrows. "You're still asking for my permission? Since when does that ever stop you? I banned you from the bathroom because you kept getting those bandages wet, but you went to the kitchen sink instead. Honestly, you're going to drive me insane one of these days."

Mistoffelees grinned unrepentantly. His tail swished to and fro as he did so.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. Then, she got up and sat next to him on the sofa.

"And about the refrigerator, before you go on a food binge, let me remind you that some human food are toxic to cats," she said.

"Really?" Mistoffelees' eyes widened in surprise.

"Well, not all of them. Off the top of my head, I know that onions, avocado, chocolate, and unripe tomatoes aren't good for you. There may be others. I'll let you know about them later so you'll know which food to avoid. I'd prefer you stick to cat food, actually, because they're healthier for you. But if you've got a craving for human food, check with me first so I can tell you if they're poisonous for you or not," she said.

"Okay," he nodded.

An awkward silence descended between them. It was as if neither of them really knew what to do or say to each other now that most of the immediate concerns were taken cared of. Mistoffelees' tail was twitching nervously. At the same time, Elizabeth started tapping her leg, also in a nervous gesture.

"Um…" Elizabeth muttered while biting her lips nervously.

"Mrrew…" Mistoffelees mumbled while glancing at her. His tail was twitching in a nervous gesture.

Elizabeth let out the breath she had been holding, then chuckled.

"Wow, this is awkward. What do people normally say in situations like these?" Elizabeth said.

"Uh… I don't know. I think I'm the first cat to even have an actual conversation with a human, so…" Mistoffelees shrugged.

"Really? Out of all the cats out there… surely _somebody_ must've tripped and accidentally revealed themselves to humans? I'm sure you're not the only one," Elizabeth looked at him in disbelief.

"Well, if they have, I've never heard about it," Mistoffelees said. Then, his ears drooped low. He let out a long sigh.

"What's wrong?" Elizabeth frowned.

Mistoffelees looked up. His gaze turned serious as he looked at her.

"Have you told anyone else about me? About Jellicle cats?" He asked anxiously.

"Are you kidding?!? Who's going to believe me?" Elizabeth said. "Even I had trouble believing it at first— and I saw it first hand. It's not everyday you find out your cat is a shapeshifter, you know."

Elizabeth waited for his response, but Mistoffelees looked distracted. He looked oddly relieved, yet disturbed at the same time.

"Did I… say something wrong? Listen, Mistoffelees, I meant no disrespect—"

"No, no, that's not what I…" Mistoffelees said, then sighed and shook his head, "I'm just… thinking."

"Oh. About what?" Elizabeth frowned.

Mistoffelees turned to look at her, then said, "Could you… would you keep the Jellicles a secret? I don't know if… I don't think I'm even supposed to reveal my Jellicle form to a human. I'm afraid what everyone would do if they find out that you know about Jellicles. I don't even want to think what Old Deuteronomy and Munkustrap would do if other humans were to find out."

Elizabeth grew quiet. For one thing, he'd just revealed that there were others— other Jellicle cats whom he was in constant contact with. That alone was enough to give her headache for days. And to think that this had been going on right under her nose for the last two years…

And then there was his worried tone. He was apparently afraid of this Old Deuteronomy and Munkustrap— whoever they were. She guessed that those two were probably some sort of authority figures among Jellicle cats.

"Are you… you're not in trouble, are you?" Elizabeth asked with a concerned frown.

"I don't know…" Mistoffelees' shoulders sank.

"But it's not even your fault. You were injured. You weren't even conscious when you transformed," Elizabeth said.

"But still…" Mistoffelees' ears drooped.

Elizabeth sighed and gently patted his shoulder.

Surprised, Mistoffelees looked up. She rarely touched him when he was in his Jellicle form. He was beginning to think that she might still be somewhat wary of him. But her touch was gentle and completely devoid of fear. Inwardly, he was relieved. He didn't want her to continue to be afraid of him. He needed her to trust him so she wouldn't cast him out of her house out of fear.

"I'm sure they'll understand," Elizabeth said soothingly.

"I hope so," Mistoffelees said.

"And don't worry. I won't tell anyone else about the Jellicle cats," Elizabeth said.

Mistoffelees looked relieved. He nodded wordlessly, then looked down on the floor again.

Seeing him look so glum, Elizabeth sighed. Wanting to comfort him, she patted his shoulders, then got up and said, "Come on, I know just the thing to cheer you up!"

"Mew?" Mistoffelees looked up curiously.

"Rice pudding!" Elizabeth said with a grin, knowing just how much he loved rice pudding. She had fed him small amounts of the sweet desert before, though not very often. Each time she did, he would lick his bowl clean and beg for more.

"Rice pudding?" Mistoffelees' eyes and ears perked up right away. He grinned, then jumped to his feet and eagerly followed Elizabeth into the kitchen, where she then scooped a whole dollop of rice pudding into a bowl for him.

oOo

In cat form, Munkustrap prowled around the house of Mistoffelees' human family (well, 'family' might be exaggerating a bit, since it was only one human). This was Munkustrap's first stop. If Mistoffelees wasn't here, then he would have to search the whole neighborhood— perhaps even the whole town. It wasn't exactly a task he was looking forward to do. Mistoffelees can be a very difficult cat to track down. If Mistoffelees wished to remain hidden, no one would be able to find him. If so, then there would be no way for anyone to know whether Macavity had Mistoffelees or not.

Munkustrap hoped Mistoffelees wasn't in the mood for hiding at the moment.

He hid in the bushes in the garden. There was a large window through which he could see the living room. And curled up in the middle of the sofa was a tiny black tuxedo cat, all wrapped up in strips of white cloth.

Munkustrap's eyes widened. It was Mistoffelees! But… what were those white strips of cloth around him?

Curious, Munkustrap crept closer until he was standing close enough near the window. He remained hidden behind some potted plants, but he was near enough to the window now to be able to see and hear what's going on in the living room. It's mostly quiet now. Mistoffelees was asleep. His human was nowhere near in sight.

Then, as if on cue, Mistoffelees' human walked into the living room, carrying a bundle of white cloth and other things Munk couldn't identify, though he could've sworn one of them looked like small scissors.

The human crouched in front of Mistoffelees, who groggily opened his eyes.

Munkustrap stiffened. He began to worry for Mistoffelees. What was this human doing with these strips of cloth and a pair of scissors? Was she going to harm Mistoffelees in some way? Surely, she wouldn't… would she? Hadn't she been taking care of Mistoffelees for the last two years? Do humans normally turn on their cats?

Not wanting to act without knowing the situation, Munkustrap waited. He watched as the human unwrapped the white cloth around Mistoffelees' body and examined his fur.

"Wow. Your wounds' all closed up. I can't even see the stitches anymore. And it's only been what, three, four days?" Munk heard her say to Mistoffelees.

Munkustrap's eyes widened. Wounds? Mistoffelees was wounded? So that's why Mistoffelees hadn't shown up in the junkyard lately! Now genuinely worried, Munkustrap watched the two closely. Perhaps he had been wrong about the human. Perhaps she was tending to his wounds, though it was certainly an odd way to do it. Why wrap wounds in cloth? Wouldn't that prevent him from being able to lick his wounds? As any self-respecting cat would know, the best way to heal wounds was to lick them. So what was this human doing, wrapping his wounds in cloth like that?

Then there was the fact that Mistoffelees got wounded. This, coupled with the rumors of Macavity's attacks on unsuspecting Jellicles, made Munkustrap even more worried. How did Mistoffelees get wounded? Was it Macavity? If so, how did his human find him? She didn't see Macavity… did she? He certainly hoped not. Because if she did, she might get suspicious and eventually find out about the Jellicles.

Suddenly, Mistoffelees got up. Munkustrap frowned, wondering what Mistoffelees was up to now. Then, Munkustrap's eyes widened when he saw Mistoffelees transform in front of the human.

_Mistoffelees!_ Munkustrap wanted to yowl in anger at the young tom's stupidity. To transform in front of a human was the one taboo that had been ingrained into every cat ever since they were a kitten. What was Mistoffelees thinking, transforming in front of this human?

But if Mistoffelees' poorly timed transformation surprised Munkustrap, the human's next choice of words completely floored him.

"Y-you haven't transformed in days," she said.

Munkustrap almost hissed out loud. _So, he's transformed in front of her before, had he?_

Now genuinely angry at Mistoffelees, Munkustrap vowed to chew the young tom out the next time he comes to the junkyard. No, scratch that. The minute the human wasn't looking, he was going to march right into that house and give Mistoffelees the worst scolding of his life! But first, Munkustrap had to wait until the human left.

Munkustrap's eyes narrowed as he observed the two interacting in the living room.

Too angry to listen, he barely even heard Mistoffelees' conversation with the human. Munkustrap sat there thinking of the scolding he was about to give Mistoffelees when he heard the human speak.

"But it's not even your fault. You were injured. You weren't even conscious when you transformed," said the human.

Munkustrap froze. His tail drooped. Mistoffelees was unconscious when he first transformed in front of the human?

Munkustrap's anger began to melt away. He sighed as he thought over the human's words. If that's what happened, then the human was right. It wasn't Mistoffelees' fault. How could Munkustrap blame him for something Mistoffelees had no control over?

Still, the fact remained that Mistoffelees had accidentally revealed the existence of Jellicle cats to a human. Munkustrap would have to talk to him about that. Now that the human knew, the entire Jellicle tribe could be at risk. Who knew what this human would do.

He needed to talk to Mistoffelees. Soon.

* * *

_A/N: Misto's in trouubleee..... hehehe. _

_Not a very exciting chapter, I know. But please bear with me! There's a lot of 'business' to be taken cared of in the beginning since Mistoffelees' sudden transformation kinda threw everyone off the loop. Hopefully, things will get more interesting within the next chapter or so. And in case anyone's curious, I've added chapter titles too.  
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	4. Munkustrap

**Chapter 4**

Mistoffelees, now back in cat form, curled up on the sofa. Elizabeth had finally gone to bed. Except for that first night he'd transformed into his Jellicle state in front of her, he normally slept on her bed— in his tiny, cat form, of course.

But tonight, Mistoffelees was too restless to follow her to bed. He was still worried about the other cats' reaction should they ever find out that he had transformed in front of a human. He couldn't help but be afraid that they would ostracize him like they did Grizabella.

He looked out the window and glanced at the moon. The moon was already shining brightly in the sky. Mistoffelees knew he would have to go to the junkyard soon, lest the tribe would start worrying about him. He hadn't shown up for the last four days due to his injury. But now, he no longer had any excuse.

Except… he didn't want to go. In fact, he wished he could postpone it for as long as possible. He dreaded going to the tribe now, afraid of what they would do once they found out that he had accidentally transformed in front of his human.

Mistoffelees continued to mull it over in his mind. He could just choose not to tell anyone. They couldn't ostracize him if they didn't know… right?

But even as he thought about it, guilt crept up in his heart. No matter how afraid he was of being ostracized, he was still loyal to the tribe. He _had_ to tell them. They had a right to know, especially if there was any chance that their existence could be revealed to humans. Although, she _did_ tell him that she wouldn't. Besides, she had lived with him long enough to gain Mistoffelees' trust. He could only hope that his trust wasn't misplaced.

But the tribe had a right to know— or at least, Old Deuteronomy had a right to know.

Mistoffelees' ears drooped. He really wasn't looking forward to that conversation.

Suddenly, a movement outside the window caught his eyes. Alarmed, Mistoffelees leapt to his feet and cautiously approached the window. He froze when he saw the figure sitting outside on the windowsill.

It was Munkustrap, in his small, cat form— and he did not look happy.

Mistoffelees ears flattened. His heart began to pound. Why was Munkustrap angry? Did he know? Or was he simply angry because Mistoffelees hadn't shown up for four days?

With trepidation, Mistoffelees approached the window. He disappeared, only to reappear out in the backyard.

"Munk?" Mistoffelees looked at the cat who had been his mentor/big brother ever since the tribe rescued him as a couple of years ago.

Munkustrap jumped down from the windowsill and silently walked towards Mistoffelees, who was standing in the middle of the garden.

"We haven't seen you for four days," Munkustrap said.

Hearing that, Mistoffelees relaxed slightly. Perhaps Munkustrap didn't know, after all. Still, he kept his ears flattened to show his regret at not showing up at the junkyard for four days.

"I was injured. I couldn't move," Mistoffelees said.

"I know." Munkustrap said, his tone betraying nothing.

Mistoffelees froze. Munkustrap knew he was injured? How? Had he been watching this whole time? Mistoffelees' tail twitched. How long had Munkustrap been standing out here? Did Munkustrap see him transform in front of Elizabeth?

Munkustrap walked closer to Mistoffelees until they were mere inches from one another.

"You transformed. In front of a human." Munkustrap said. Munkustrap's ears were flattened and his tail was swishing to and fro, signaling his extreme displeasure.

"I… I… it was an accident. I wasn't even conscious when it first happened." Mistoffelees tucked his tail under his legs nervously. Then, he looked away in submission and said, "I'm sorry. I couldn't control it."

Munkustrap stared at Mistoffelees. For a long time, neither cat moved.

Finally, Munkustrap sighed.

"I know. I heard your conversation earlier. I'm not blaming you, Mistoffelees," Munkustrap said. He turned and sat a few feet away from Mistoffelees.

Mistoffelees relaxed visibly.

Munkustrap's tail was still swishing to and fro, however.

"Still, this isn't good, Mistoffelees. Our very survival depends on humans not knowing about Jellicles. It may have been an accident, but you've endangered us all," Munkustrap said seriously.

"But she won't tell anyone! She said so herself!" Mistoffelees said.

"So she says. But how much can we trust the word of a human? They say one thing and do another. We can't trust them!" Munkustrap hissed.

"Elizabeth has done nothing but try to help me. She won't do anything. I know her. She's not the type to go back on her word. And she's always been kind to me. She rescued me and took me in when I was injured and dying two years ago. You brought me to her yourself. Are you saying you don't trust your own judgment?" Mistoffelees said.

"Back then, she had no idea you were a Jellicle cat. At the time, I brought you to her because it was the only thing we could do to save you. Your injuries were too extensive that only humans could have healed you. And we all know how much humans like us cats. But now she knows you're not the ordinary cat she thought you were. What makes you so sure she won't suddenly turn on you, now that she knows you can transform?" Munkustrap said.

"If she wanted to harm me, she could have done so while I was still injured four days ago. Instead, she took care of my wounds and made sure I was eating properly," Mistoffelees said.

Munkustrap sighed. He got up and started pacing around, his tail twitching every now and then.

"I still don't trust her," Munkustrap said.

"Please… give her a chance. Let me stay with her. I _know_ her. She's a good human. Besides… I owe her my life. Twice, if you remember," Mistoffelees looked at Munkustrap with pleading eyes.

Munkustrap paused and looked at Mistoffelees.

"Fine. But keep an eye on her, Mistoffelees. I still don't trust her," Munkustrap said.

"She won't betray me. You'll see," Mistoffelees said.

Munkustrap sighed. "I hope you're right, Mistoffelees. For all our sakes, I hope you're right."

Mistoffelees said nothing, but was secretly relieved that Munk was letting him stay with Elizabeth.

Munkustrap looked at the moon. It was shining brightly now. He looked at Mistoffelees, who had his head down and ears flattened. Seeing the young tom looking so morose, Munkustrap's heart melted.

"If you feel up to it, come to the junkyard. Everyone's been worried about you," Munkustrap said.

Mistoffelees looked up, glad that he was still accepted in the tribe.

Munkustrap smiled, then got up and said, "Come on."

Mistoffelees' eyes brightened. With his tail held high, he sauntered after Munkustrap as the two cats made their way towards the junkyard.

oOo

Along the way, Munkustrap told him how Macavity had begun terrorizing other cats. Hearing that, Mistoffelees told Munk how he also had been attacked by Macavity, which resulted in his injuries. Needless to say, Munkustrap was worried. Very worried.

The cats were very glad to see Mistoffelees alive and well. They rubbed their heads against his neck affectionately the minute he arrived in the junkyard. Even Old Deuteronomy's face had broken into a wide, welcoming grin when he saw Mistoffelees walk into the junkyard, followed closely by Munkustrap.

Munkustrap told the cats how Mistoffelees had been injured, which prevented him from coming to the junkyard until his wounds were healed. But he said nothing about Mistoffelees' human. For now, at least.

Glad that everyone's finally back together, the cats roamed around the junkyard and played.

Munkustrap and Mistoffelees waited until all the activities had died down before going to Old Deuteronomy to speak to him in private. Old Deuteronomy, suspecting a serious conversation coming up, nodded and led them all to a spot away from the tribe.

"Alright, what is it that the two of you wanted to talk about?" Old Deuteronomy asked.

Munkustrap and Mistoffelees looked at each other. Mistoffelees' ears were flattened nervously.

"Mistoffelees transformed in front of his human— by accident," Munkustrap said.

Old Deuteronomy's eyes widened. He snapped his gaze towards Mistoffelees, whose tail was now tucked nervously under his legs.

"Is this true, Mistoffelees?" Old Deuteronomy asked.

"Yes," Mistoffelees said meekly. "I-I didn't mean to. I was ambushed by Macavity out in the backyard. She heard us fighting and went to the window to investigate. She saw Macavity and shouted at him. Macavity fled. At least, that's what she told me."

"_She_ told you?" Old Deuteronomy looked at Mistoffelees in disbelief.

"I was unconscious," Mistoffelees explained. Then, he told Old Deuteronomy everything. Starting from the time Elizabeth spotted Macavity to their conversation just a few hours ago.

Old Deuteronomy did not look pleased.

"Mistoffelees…" Old Deuteronomy began.

"I know. I'm sorry," Mistoffelees dropped his head and flattened his ears contritely.

Old Deuteronomy sighed. "I cannot rightfully blame you, Mistoffelees. You had no control over any of this."

Mistoffelees nodded, but still kept his head low.

Old Deuteronomy shook his head and let out another sigh. "Well, what's done is done. Best we can do right now is hope your human won't betray us all."

"She won't. I know her. She's not the type to go back on her words," Mistoffelees said, in hopes that Old Deuteronomy would believe him. Inwardly, however, even Mistoffelees couldn't help but admit that he _was_ worried that Elizabeth might betray him. Still, he was willing to give his human the benefit of the doubt, so he hoped that Old Deuteronomy would too.

Old Deuteronomy patted Mistoffelees head and said, "You are young, Mistoffelees. And sometimes, you are too trusting for your own good."

Munkustrap let out an exasperated sigh and said, "That's what I've been trying to tell him! But he trusts her so easily—"

Old Deuteronomy held his hand up to silence Munkustrap.

Munkustrap backed down.

Old Deuteronomy looked at both young toms, then said to Mistoffelees, "We'll give her a chance. You may stay with her— for now." Then, to Munkustrap, he said, "Despite the precariousness of the situation, the fact remains that this human had done nothing but to try and help Mistoffelees— and dare I say it, he now owes her his life. Who knows what would've happened had she not helped him."

Munkustrap thought over what Old Deuteronomy said and backed down.

Old Deuteronomy grew quiet and pensive, causing the two young toms next to him to look at him curiously.

"What is it?" Munkustrap asked.

With a frown, Old Deuteronomy replied, "Macavity has been on the rampage lately. He has been targeting us one by one— even Skimbleshanks, who barely had any part in that last battle. But it seems he still fears humans," He then turned to look at Mistoffelees and said, "Stay with your human for now, Mistoffelees. Try not to venture out on your own."

"He was with her last time, but that didn't stop Macavity from attacking," Munkustrap pointed out.

"Yes, but that's only because Mistoffelees decided to venture out into the garden on his own. But Macavity fled as soon as he saw her," Old Deuteronomy said.

Rectified, Munkustrap nodded.

"I'm going to order all cats who live with human families to stay close to their humans. It may not the best method of protection, but they will have less chances of being attacked while in the presence of humans," Old Deuteronomy said.

"Why can't we have everyone take refuge here in the junkyard, where we can keep a close eye on one another?" Munkustrap asked.

"Because Macavity does not fear _us_," Old Deuteronomy said. Then, he let out a long sigh and shook his head in dismay. "This junkyard is not as safe as it once was. I can recall a time where Macavity would not even dare to set foot here. But now that his tribe was growing in numbers, he was becoming more and more bold in his approach."

Munkustrap frowned. He appeared to be thinking.

"But if Macavity's getting more bold, what's to stop him from attacking even when there are humans around?" Munkustrap pointed out.

Old Deuteronomy sighed. He sat down wearily, then spoke, "As I said, staying close to humans may not the best method of protection, but at the moment, they are the only deterrent we have against Macavity. It's just a temporary solution until we can figure out a better way to protect ourselves."

Munkustrap looked like he wanted to protest, but said nothing.


	5. Heigh Ho! It's Off To Work We Go!

_A/N: See notes at the bottom of this chapter if there's any terms you don't understand._

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**Chapter 5**

Elizabeth was not a happy camper when she got out of bed the next morning. It was almost six o'clock Saturday morning. Most _normal_ people in the country were still sound asleep in their comfy beds.

But not Elizabeth.

At precisely 5:47 a.m. in the morning, her cellphone rang. Grumbling, she had half a mind to turn it off and go back to bed, but when she saw the number on the caller ID, she knew she had no choice but to take the call.

It was from her office.

"H-hello?" She answered with a raspy, just-got-out-of-bed voice.

"_Liz, sorry to wake you up. It's Alex. We have a... situation here. Someone's apparently hacked into our system. Now our server is flooded with random files. Some jobs are either missing or replaced by, uh... porn titles_," said the voice from the other end of the call.

Elizabeth blinked... then blinked again. "Wait... did you just say 'porn' titles?"

"_Uh... yeah..._" Alex replied somewhat uncomfortably, then added, "_Matt thinks this hacker infected our system with a trojan or a virus. Thing is, we've got a hot job due at noon today, so we need that server back up and running ASAP._"

Elizabeth gave a long, _long_ sigh.

"I'll be there in thirty... no, make that forty minutes," she said _very_ reluctantly. After she hung up, she lay there on the bed while cursing the mystery hacker who decided to ruin her Saturday morning by infecting the server and thereby, forcing her to get out of bed at 6 o'clock in the morning. On a Saturday.

Elizabeth groaned. She stifled the urge to curse the mystery hacker. It was time like these that made her wish that she'd gotten a different job than IT. Since she was the only person in the IT department in her company, this meant she had to be on-call at all times, in case problems arose. Since her company was open from the wee hours in the morning all the way to midnight, plus Saturdays (depending on whether they have a rush job or not), this meant Elizabeth had to be prepared to be called to work at any given hour, any day.

"Stupid hacker and their stupid pranks," Elizabeth grumbled as she sat up on the bed. She sighed, then glanced at the tiny, black cat curled up on the other side of her bed. Mistoffelees peeked his eyes open and looked at her with sleepy, feline eyes.

Elizabeth sighed.

"Y'know, there are times when I envy you, Mistoffelees. You can sleep all day and all night if you wanted to and not have to suffer having co-workers call you at five a.m., asking you to go to work on a Saturday morning," she said. She stretched, yawned, then reluctantly stood up.

She went into the bathroom to get ready. By the time she went back to her bedroom, Mistoffelees had already transformed and was sitting on her bed.

"Can I come with you?" Mistoffelees asked.

"You want to come with me?" Elizabeth looked at him oddly. She had never taken him to work before, though other co-workers have brought their dogs/puppies to work from time to time. Some even went as far as keeping a pet fish in their offices.

"Well... yes," Mistoffelees said, his tail twitching.

"Huh. I wanted to stay in bed and you wanted to go," she shook her head in amusement, then said, "Dunno why you'd want to go to a boring ol' office, but... alright. But in your, uh... other... smaller form."

Mistoffelees transformed back into his cat form. He stretched, yawned, then hopped off the bed and started following Elizabeth around as she got ready for work.

oOo

Truth be told, Mistoffelees would rather stay at home, where he could sleep in a warm, fluffy bed all day long. But after what Old Deuteronomy told him and Munkustrap last night, Mistoffelees didn't want to be left alone at home where no one could help him if Macavity decided to attack. His last scruple with the infamous Hidden Paw had ended disastrously. Mistoffelees had no desire for a repeat performance.

Besides, he hated bandages.

But Elizabeth had been right about her office being boring. There was nothing to do here except sleep and dodge the occasional human who wanted to pet him or ruffle his fur.

Sick of lying around doing nothing, Mistoffelees decided to explore.

Had Mistoffelees been in his Jellicle form, he would've grinned. As it was, he settled for letting his tail swish to and fro. He glanced at Elizabeth, who was still scowling at her computer. Occasionally, she would mutter things like 'damned hacker' or 'gah! Who in their right minds would name their file 'leather bab— oh.'

Mistoffelees made sure that she wasn't looking in his direction. Then, he silently padded out of her cubicle and darted out into the hallway. There was a gap between the rows of cubicles, thereby forming a narrow hallway of sorts. Thankfully, it was empty at the moment, though there were people working in the cubicles near Elizabeth's.

_Let's see... cables, papers, binders, large machine—oh, that's interesting... nah, Elizabeth would chew me out if I play with that... hmm... Ooh, what's this? An empty cubicle!_ Mistoffelees' tail perked up. He looked left and right to make sure no human was around. Then, he darted into the empty cubicle. The cubicle, though not devoid of furniture and various office paraphernalia, was blissfully unoccupied by any human. The desk was crowded with papers, pens, paperclips, and other knick-knacks. There were a couple of photos tacked on the fabric wall, suggesting that this cubicle belonged to someone.

Mistoffelees glanced at the photos, then curled his whiskers in disgust when he saw a picture of a dog in it. _A dog_. Mistoffelees turned away from the ridiculous picture. _Some humans have no taste. _Why any human would want a slobbering, dirty, clumsy creature as a pet, he would never know. Dogs couldn't even bathe themselves if their lives depended on it. At least _his_ human had the good sense to choose a cat instead of a dog (although, to be fair, neither of them chose each other, really. It was pure luck that they ended up with each other).

He sniffed around and noticed that there was a lingering smell of _dog_ in this cubicle. Mistoffelees scrunched his nose in disgust. He may be a bored cat, but he'd be damned if he'd let his paw touch anything that had dog slobber all over it. With a huff, he turned away and left the cubicle.

With the stealth of a spy, Mistoffelees walked along the gap between cubicles. Whenever a human passed by, he would dart under a desk or into the nearest, empty cubicle. As he explored the maze of cubicles, he overheard two human females whispering excitedly to one another. Not interested in human gossip, Mistoffelees was about to ignore it when he heard Elizabeth's name mentioned.

His ears perked up. He followed the sound of the chattering females and ducked under an empty desk in the adjacent cubicle (which was empty at the moment).

"Elizabeth? She hasn't dated anyone for, what, two years now?"

"Think we can set her up with Matt?"

"With Matt? Wait... you _do_ know that Matt's got a dog, right? A big, rambunctious Rottweiler."

"Yeah, so?"

"Elizabeth has a _cat_. She's not going to want that dog anywhere near her cat. And you know how Matt loves to bring his dog _everywhere_."

"Wait, she's got a cat?"

"Yeah. A small, black tuxedo cat named Mr. Mistoffelees."

"Oh, how cute!!"

"I know! He's so _adorable_. You should see him. He's such a small and shy little thing. Oh! You know what? I think she brought her cat with her today."

"Really? Oh, I'm going to go see him!"

_Uh-oh_, Mistoffelees thought. _I'd better get back before that human female gets there and Elizabeth finds me gone,_ Mistoffelees darted out from under the desk, then raced back to Elizabeth's cubicle.

He had just put his paw in her cubicle when she looked up.

"Where have you _been_, mister? You didn't take anything, did you?" Elizabeth raised her eyebrow at him suspiciously.

_Not yet,_ Mistoffelees thought mischievously— not that he would ever say so to her. Instead, he stared at her with innocent-looking eyes and meowed so sweetly, one would think that he was an angel from the Heavyside Layer.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. She was about to say something else when a shrilly voice came ringing from down the hallway. The said shrilly voice grew louder until the owner of the said voice popped her curly, blonde head into Elizabeth's cubicle. The blonde woman stopped when she saw Mistoffelees standing by her feet. She grinned and crouched down in front of Mistoffelees.

"Oh, _hiiiii!!!_ Aren't you just the cutest lil' thing!" The hitherto unknown woman scooped up Mistoffelees (who hadn't even got a chance to hide under Elizabeth's desk yet).

Mistoffelees could've sworn the woman was trying to squeeze all nine lives out of him. His tail swished to and fro in irritation when she practically _glomped_ him and squeezed him in her arms while ruffling his fur.

_Hey! I just cleaned my fur this morning!_ Mistoffelees grumbled. Now he'd have to groom himself all over again. He glanced at Elizabeth, who was trying not to laugh at his predicament.

Finally, the woman let him go.

Traumatized, Mistoffelees darted under Elizabeth's desk and vowed never to come out until it's time to go home.

This time, Elizabeth openly laughed.

"I'm sorry," the woman said with an unrepentant chuckle as she stood up and walked to Elizabeth's desk. Then she said, "Helen told me you brought your cat and I couldn't resist. He's so cute!"

"I think you traumatized him," Elizabeth said with a grin.

_Darned right,_ Mistoffelees grumbled. _I'm never coming out of this desk again_.

"I'm sorry," said the woman with a voice that was far too happy to be truly repentant. "He's just too adorable. And so small! He's not a kitten anymore, is he?"

"No. It's just his breed. They don't grow very large. He's at least two, maybe even three years old. I'm not sure. He wasn't really a kitten anymore when I first got him," said Elizabeth.

"Really? Oh, hey. That reminds me. Helen and I were just talking."

"_Oh no_," Elizabeth said with a dead-panned voice, though her amused glance indicated that she was just teasing.

_'Oh no' indeed_, thought Mistoffelees. Thanks to that conversation he overheard earlier, he had a very good idea what this woman was about to say. And he did not like it one bit.

"Shut up. Hear me out," said the woman.

"_Shut up?_ Well, this better be good," Elizabeth said with a grin.

"Anyway, there's this _great_ guy—"

"Oh no you don't. I know where this is going. And the answer is _no_." Elizabeth crossed her arms stubbornly.

_Thank you!_ Mistoffelees thought with relief.

"Aw, come on! It's been, what, two years? Besides, he's cute—" Marian insisted.

_And he has a dog,_ Mistoffelees grumbled.

"—Single. Straight. And not a psychopath. Do you know how _rare_ that is in this city?" Marian continued.

"Marian." Elizabeth said as she stared the woman down.

"Elizabeth." Marian refused to back down and stared back at Elizabeth.

"No."

"Oh, come on! Give him a chance. It's just one date," Marian said.

"I don't know..." Elizabeth wrung her hands.

_Say no! Please say no! I don't want to live with a dog!_ Mistoffelees chanted in his mind. Out of all the men out there, did they have to pick the one with a big, slobbering dog?

"Just one date..." Marian pleaded.

_And did I mention he has a dog?_ Mistoffelees sent Elizabeth pleading looks, but Elizabeth wasn't looking at him. Not deterred, he swiped a paw at Elizabeth's leg— without claws, of course.

Elizabeth looked down.

"What's wrong, Mistoffelees?"

"Meowrr!" _Say no!!_ He tried to say, despite knowing that she couldn't understand cat-speak. What could he say? He was desperate.

Both human women chuckled.

"See? Even Mistoffelees doesn't want me to date him, don't you, Mistoffelees?" Elizabeth said with a grin.

"Meow!" _Of course not_, he replied, glad Elizabeth understood him.

"That's not what he's saying. See? He's swiping his paw at you. He wants your attention. He's saying 'date him! Date him!" Marian said with a grin.

_That's not what I said!_ Mistoffelees scowled at the woman.

"You know what? I think he needs to go out. I didn't bring his litter box, that's why," Elizabeth bent down and picked him up— _gently_ —unlike Marian, whom Mistoffelees was slowly beginning to dread.

Marian sighed, but refused to give up. "Fine. But the offer still stands..."

"Marian... just... not right now. My life is a little too crazy right now," Elizabeth said.

Marian held her hands up and said, "Alright. Maybe some other time, then."

"Maybe," Elizabeth shrugged.

When Marian left, Mistoffelees had never been more glad to see a human leave. That woman was a menace to all cats.

Elizabeth took him for a walk around the block— mostly for show more than anything else, since Mistoffelees didn't feel the need to go at all. They returned about five minutes later, where Elizabeth promptly resumed cursing at her computer while she worked.

oOo

It took several hours to clean up the server. The virus that the hacker put in had infected most of the files. So she had no choice but to re-install everything and replaced the files that were lost. Thankfully, Elizabeth made it a habit to back everything up every Friday, so no major work was lost. But the re-installation took hours, especially for the larger programs.

Fortunately, by ten a.m., the server was finally up and running again.

Tired and grumpy, Elizabeth walked back to her car with Mistoffelees following closely behind her. Anyone passing by would marvel at the fact that a _cat_ was willingly following a human around, but Elizabeth was too tired to care.

She turned the ignition and drove. Not five minutes down the road, she looked at the back seat through her rear-view mirror and saw that Mistoffelees had transformed. Fortunately, the window on the back seat was tinted, so most people wouldn't be able to see.

"So... what was that paw-swiping all about?" Elizabeth asked.

"I'm trying to tell you to say no to her," he answered.

"Why?" Elizabeth frowned. Since when did Mistoffelees care who she dated?

"The man she's trying to set you up with has a dog," he replied with a scowl.

Elizabeth's eyes widened, then laughed out loud. "A dog? That's it? That's your only objection?"

"Of course. No self respecting cat would want to live with a dog," Mistoffelees said indignantly.

"It's not as if I'm marrying him, Mistoffelees," Elizabeth said.

"But you might, if you had said yes," Mistoffelees sulked.

"Well, anyway, I already said I wasn't intere— wait a minute. How do you know he has a dog? Marian never even mentioned who she's trying to set me up with."

"Uh... I... overheard them talking?" Mistoffelees replied with a hint of guilt in his eyes.

"Uh-huh. And exactly _where_ _did you go_ that you managed to overhear them?" Elizabeth asked.

"I was just, er… walking around the office. I was bored."

"You didn't, uh... do anything, did you?"

"No," Mistoffelees scowled.

Elizabeth sighed. "I was just asking. You do have a reputation for being mischievous, you know."

Mistoffelees grinned unrepentantly.

"Anyway, why the sudden interest in going to the office with me? I told you it was boring," Elizabeth said.

"Um... it's because... can I tell you at home?" Mistoffelees said, not wanting to talk to her about Macavity while all he could see of her face was a pair of eyes through the rear-view mirror.

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow, but nodded. "Fine. We're not going home first, though. After all that, I need an ice cream. A big ol' tub."

Mistoffelees eyes perked up. "Ice cream? Can I have one too?"

"Sure. Not the chocolate kind, though. You'll have to sit in the carrier-bag, is that okay? Either that, or stay in the car," Elizabeth said.

Mistoffelees hated the carrier bag. It was so undignified. But he'd rather sit in that bag than be in the car alone.

"I guess carrier bag is fine," Mistoffelees said with a sigh. There were times where he wished Jellicles could walk freely among humans. Then he wouldn't have had to hide like this.

"It's just for a few minutes, Mistoffelees," Elizabeth said.

"Fine," Mistoffelees said dejectedly.

Eventually, they arrived at the supermarket, where Elizabeth bought a large tub of lactose-free french vanilla ice cream (because cats were lactose-intolerant, which meant Mistoffelees was, too).

oOo

They sat next to each other on the sofa, each with a bowl of ice cream (though not too much for Mistoffelees). Mistoffelees was going to simply lap it up like he usually did, but Elizabeth insisted that he used a spoon.

"But I like it better this way. It's easier," Mistoffelees protested as he lapped up the ice cream from his bowl.

"It's also more messy. Besides, it's not that hard to use a spoon," Elizabeth said, holding a clean spoon in her hand towards him.

Mistoffelees eyed the spoon as if it had suddenly sprouted eight, spidery legs.

"You can scoop more into your mouth this way…" Elizabeth waved the spoon in front of him enticingly.

Mistoffelees grabbed the spoon.

Elizabeth grinned in triumph as he clumsily used the spoon to scoop a large dollop of ice cream into his mouth. When he put the spoonful of ice cream in his mouth, his eyes closed in absolute bliss.

Elizabeth tried not to chuckle. He was such an easy cat to please sometimes.

"So, what's with the sudden desire to come with me to work? What is it that you couldn't tell me in the car before?" Elizabeth finally asked.

Mistoffelees ears drooped slightly. He swirled the ice cream in his bowl absent-mindedly as he thought over his answer.

"I told Old Deuteronomy everything," he said.

"Old Deuteronomy?" Elizabeth frowned. The name seemed familiar. "Wait… he's, uh… you were worried about his reaction before.. right?"

"Yes. He's our leader. He's the oldest and wisest cat in the tribe. Everyone looks up to him. In fact, I think a lot of the cats in the tribe are his progeny," Mistoffelees said.

"Really? Including you?" She asked.

"No. At least, I don't think so," Mistoffelees looked unsure for a moment. Then, he said, "I don't know. My parents are from a different tribe, but Macavity killed them when I was barely past kittenhood. Old Deuteronomy's tribe found me and brought me to you."

"Wait… brought you to me? But I found you on the sidewalk near the house, all injured and alone." Elizabeth frowned.

Mistoffelees nodded. "Munkustrap brought me there and waited in the bushes. I was too far gone, you see. My injuries were extensive. They couldn't heal me. So they thought maybe a human could help— and you did."

"Oh." Elizabeth blinked. This past two years, she had always thought that some unruly kids decided to torture the poor cat and left him to die. She had harbored a secret anger over whoever injured her tiny, black cat. But hearing his story, her anger now shifted towards this… Macavity. Fear rose within her. Macavity had been in her garden before. A _murderer_ had been in her garden before. And he was apparently after Mistoffelees.

"Why did he kill your parents?" She asked, trying to keep the chill out of her heart.

"I don't know," Mistoffelees' ears drooped. "To this day, I keep asking that same question. But no one except Macavity would know— and I'm certainly not going to go and ask him anytime soon."

Elizabeth's heart went out with him. She never realized what a sad past he had. Had Mistoffelees been harboring grief this whole time?

She reached out and gently placed a hand on his cheek. Mistoffelees closed his eyes, leaned into her touch, and rubbed against her hand in a very feline manner.

"I'm sorry about your parents. I never knew," Elizabeth said quietly. She stared at the very cat-like way he responded to her touch. It seemed so alien to her. But she said nothing. Instead, she kept her hand where it was, comforting him with her touch.

Mistoffelees nodded and rubbed against her hand once more. After awhile, he turned away and Elizabeth withdrew her hand.

"So, what did Old Deuteronomy say? Did you tell him everything that happened this past week?" Elizabeth asked.

Mistoffelees nodded. "Munkustrap was the first to find out, actually. He was outside when you finally took those bandages off me yesterday."

"He was?" Elizabeth's eyes widened. It frightened her somewhat that someone could have been watching right outside the window and she never even noticed. Nervously, she glanced out the window, but there was no one there. This time, anyway.

"I never knew either, until he sat right on the windowsill," Mistoffelees pointed towards the window where he had seen Munkustrap sit last night.

Elizabeth nodded. If Mistoffelees hadn't noticed, then this Munkustrap fellow must've been very well hidden. Still, the thought that anyone could waltz into her garden like that bothered her— even if it was a friend.

Mistoffelees then told her everything that happened last night— starting from his conversation with Munkustrap to what Old Deuteronomy told him.

"So, you think this Macavity fellow is scared of humans?" Elizabeth said.

"It… seems like it. He ran away too when Skimbleshanks' human came," Mistoffelees said.

"Huh. Interesting," Elizabeth muttered. Then, she frowned. "Mistoffelees, I can't bring you to work everyday."

Mistoffelees' ears drooped.

"I mean, I can bring you once in awhile, but I don't think my boss would approve of me bringing you there everyday," Elizabeth said.

"It's because I'm a cat, isn't it?" Mistoffelees looked at her dejectedly.

Elizabeth's heart sank. "Oh, Mistoffelees… That's not it. Really! It has nothing to do with you being a cat. People bring dogs, fishes, and well… now a cat, to work. It's fine. They even bring their children to work sometimes. It's okay for us to bring guests or pets or children to work, but not everyday. The office is mainly for employees and clients only. And well… you're not an employee or a client."

"Oh." Mistoffelees muttered, still not completely happy with the fact.

"Listen, are there any safe places for you to be during the day? Can you stay with the other cats?" Elizabeth asked.

Mistoffelees pondered. "Yes. I can go to the junkyard."

"The junkyard?!?"

"That's where the tribe is," Mistoffelees answered.

"So _that's_ where you disappear off to whenever I can't find you!" Elizabeth exclaimed.

"Uh…" Mistoffelees' eyes widened. He fidgeted uncomfortably. "I'm, uh… sorry?"

Elizabeth sighed and smiled. "There's nothing to be sorry for, Mistoffelees. It's not like you're a prisoner or anything. You've always been a free cat. Why do you think I installed that pet door for you? So you can come and go as you please."

Relieved, Mistoffelees nodded.

"How did you know I would come back when you installed that pet door?" Mistoffelees asked.

Elizabeth smiled wistfully, then said, "I didn't. I had hoped that you'd come back… and you did. Though, I've been wondering… why _did_ you come back?"

Mistoffelees' ears drooped. "I went to look for my parents. But they were all gone. Dead. So I… I came back. I had nowhere else to go."

"Oh, Mistoffelees, I'm so sorry," Elizabeth reached out and rubbed his arm comfortingly.

Mistoffelees bowed his head low. Then, after awhile, he took a deep breath and looked up. Then, with a forced smile, he said, "Besides, I got tired of eating mice all the time. It's nice to have liver or chicken once in awhile. And rice pudding."

Elizabeth smiled, "You and rice pudding. I swear, you're obsessed with it."

"I _was_ obsessed with it. But now that you gave me ice cream, I think I have a new obsession," Mistoffelees said, then as if to prove his point, he scooped a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth and closed his eyes blissfully.

Elizabeth couldn't help but chuckle at his blissful expression. Inwardly, she couldn't help but wonder if he was simply putting up a cheerful front. She wished she could do more to comfort him, but not knowing what else to do, she decided to simply let him be… for now.

She remembered that time when she first found Mistoffelees. He had been such a tiny little thing, bruised and bloodied all over. Her heart wept when she saw the poor, black tuxedo cat lying on the sidewalk, seemingly forgotten by the world as he lay there, dying. She had immediately rushed him to the vet. Afterwards, she nursed the poor cat back to health until his injuries were healed. She had installed the pet door after that, hoping that Mistoffelees would be able to come and go as he pleased. And he did leave. For five whole days. She kept looking at the door the whole time, hoping that he would come back. She even started to loose hope, thinking that no feral cat would willingly let themselves be shackled to a human. But to her surprise, he came back. She hadn't known why at the time, but she was immensely glad that he did.

She resumed eating her ice cream, then turned on the TV. There was a special episode of Takeshi's Castle showing. It was a weird, wacky Japanese game show that Elizabeth found oddly entertaining. This time, they even had their contestants wear Halloween costumes. But her mind wasn't on the show. She glanced at Mistoffelees and couldn't help but marvel at how normal it felt for her to be sitting next to a cat-man in her living room. She should be weirded out by the fact, and yet… it felt more like sitting with a close friend while sharing a tub of ice cream and watching TV at the same time. It was… comforting.

* * *

**Notes**:

_Hot job/rush job — _To my understanding, these are projects for a client that are due ASAP/very, very soon, but the client gave you very little time to do it. In other words, projects from customers who come to you at the last, possible minute (a.k.a., "I know this is really late, but I need this extremely complicated job done _now_!")

_IT_ - The tech guy. i.e., The person you whine to when your computer's got a virus, or if the internet's slow, the server's down, the electricity went off, the phone's not working right, etc. I think "IT" stands for Information Technology, but really and truly, the IT guy does practically everything around the office (except for making coffee for people). I'm not an IT person (thank goodness!), but I did work in a similar company such as the one described in this chapter, where our IT guy (the only one for the whole company!) had to be on-call at all times— even during his vacation. Poor guy. Seriously.

Also, Mistoffelees' opinion of dogs does_ not_ reflect my opinion of dogs in any way, shape or form. I love dogs. They're such goofy, lovable creatures. Unfortunately, not all cats share my opinion.

On a totally random note, I was depressed this week because I just lost my job. I was in my car (parked in front of my house), crying out to the Lord when lo and behold! This cat passed in front me— and he looked a lot like Mistoffelees. That cheered me up right there. Isn't the Lord wonderful? He knows exactly how to cheer me up! Hmm… I wonder if that cat really _was_ Mistoffelees?


	6. Who's Up For The Jellicle Ball?

**Chapter 6**

Macavity had been pacing in circles in the corner of the abandoned warehouse where he and his tribe lived. His tail kept swishing to and fro in displeasure while his henchcats kept a fearful distance away from him. Suddenly, he stopped and turned towards his followers.

The toms and queens around him gulped.

"These humans are a serious problem. They're becoming a hindrance to us. And that one human— Mistoffelees' human…" Macavity trailed off, his whiskers curled in displeasure. He sat down and pondered over what to do with her. Macavity had always prided himself in his ability to escape without leaving any witnesses behind— at least, not human ones, anyway. But now, a _human _had finally seen him. If he didn't deal with her soon, she could report him to the police. If that happened, these humans would hunt him down relentlessly.

"Do you want us to catch this… human?" Asked a striped, orange tom hesitantly.

Macavity frowned as he mulled the thought over in his mind. Then, he said, "No, not yet. We don't know what this human is capable of. And we don't know how many people she's told about what she saw that night. For all we know, she might have alerted the police already."

Macavity was silent while he pondered on what to do. After awhile, he finally said to two of his followers, "You two, go to Mistoffelees' human home and watch her. Find out who she talks to and what her conversations are about. I need to know if she's told anyone about us," Then, to another pair, he said, "_You two_, go to the nearest police station and check for any wanted posters or alerts that could lead to me."

Then, to the rest, he said, "The rest of you, patrol around the junkyard, but don't attack. Old Deuteronomy's bound to be on alert by now. I need to know what his plans are, where his Jellicles are throughout the day. And if you see any weaknesses, report to me. Now go!"

The toms and queens around him scattered right away. A precious few stayed to guard their kittens, most of whom were Macavity's progeny. As for Macavity, he slunk into a shadowy corner to ponder his next strategy.

oOo

Tonight wasn't a Jellicle moon, but many of the cats were all gathered at the junkyard anyway. Old Deuteronomy had decided to send a few cats to fetch those who live with humans so they could safely go to the junkyard. Even Mistoffelees decided to visit the junkyard, as did Skimbleshanks, Victoria, Bombalurina, and a few other cats who had human families. Like most nights, there wasn't anything particular going on tonight. Some toms were crowding around Gus as he retold the story of the time he played Firefrorefiddle, the Fiend of the Fell. Though the cats had heard it a million times before, they still loved to sit by him and listen.

On the other corner of the junkyard, away from the hearing range of the toms crowding around Gus, some of the queens and kittens were talking excitedly about the upcoming Jellicle Ball. It would not be held for another three months or so, depending on the moon phase, but it was the highlight of the year for any Jellicle.

"What about you, Jemima? You'll finally be a eligible this year. Think you'll find a mate at the Ball?" Bombalurina asked.

Jemima's tail twitched nervously. She glanced at the toms gathered around Gus, then hastily looked away before anyone could notice where _exactly _she was looking, or rather, _whom_ she was looking at.

"I don't know. I haven't thought about it yet," Jemima said, her tail swishing to and fro.

Etcetera, who had been listening this whole time, nudged Jemima's shoulder.

"Aw, come on!" Etcetera said with a grin. She glanced at the group of toms gathered around Gus and said to Jemima, "There's got to be at least _one_ tom you like."

Jemima tried not to blush. She licked her paw in embarrassment, then said, "I don't know. We'll just see."

Etcetera glanced at the group of toms again, then grinned. "I heard some of the young toms are finally eligible this year."

"Really? Who?" Asked Victoria.

"Pouncival, Quaxo, Mistoffelees and Tumblebrutus," Etcetera said.

"Rum Tum Tugger's still available," Bombalurina said with a saucy smile as she too, eyed the group of toms crowding around Gus.

"_Pfft_. Tugger's been available for the last five years— and he'll probably _stay_ available for another five. He likes being a bachelor too much," Demeter said.

Bombalurina looked at the enigmatic tom with the wild mane, then sighed sadly.

"What about Munkustrap? He hasn't got a mate yet. Think he'll finally choose someone this year?" Asked Jemima. She tried not to let her tail move when she mentioned his name, but it was such an unconscious gesture, she could've sworn her tail twitched a little.

Apparently, Demeter caught the twitch, because the queen grinned at Jemima.

"Why, are you interested?" Demeter said with a very. wide. grin.

"W-what? No. I was just… curious. That's all," Jemima blushed and looked away.

"Meeewww!!!" The other queens and kittens mewled and nudged Jemima's shoulder teasingly.

"Sooo…. Munkustrap, huh?" Etcetera giggled and grinned at Jemima.

"N-no, no! I was just curious! Really!" Jemima said with a hint of panic and embarrassment in her voice.

"Sure, you are," Bombalurina said with a knowing grin.

"Meoowwrrr," Jemima pouted and blushed at the same time.

Meanwhile, unknown to the queens and kittens, one of the toms had overheard them. And he was grinning. Widely. With a confident air, he strutted towards Munkustrap, who was among the group of toms sitting around Gus.

"Guess what I heard?" Rum Tum Tugger said as he clapped a hand on Munkustrap's shoulder.

"Do I really want to know?" Munkustrap eyed Tugger suspiciously.

Ignoring Munkustrap's suspicious glance, Tugger continued.

"So… the queens and queens-to-be are talking about the Jellicle Ball, see? And guess whose name came up?" Tugger said.

Munkustrap rolled his eyes. Hadn't they had this conversation a million times before? "Let me guess, yours?"

"Well of course my name came up!" Tugger said smugly, "But guess who _else_ was mentioned?"

"Who?" Several young toms asked anxiously.

Tugger grinned, then said nonchalantly, "Apparently, _someone's_ been asking about our fearless protector."

"Someone's asking about Rumpus Cat?" Munkustrap frowned incredulously.

Tugger gave Munkustrap an annoyed look, then said, "I meant _you_."

"Ohhh." Several toms chorused at once and looked at Munkustrap, who was suddenly feeling very self-conscious.

"Who? Who was asking about Munkustrap?" Alonzo asked, his tail twitching in anticipation.

Tugger gave everyone a very wide grin, then said, "Now _that_ would be telling."

Several toms yowled in disappointment. Gus, however, was smiling.

"Well isn't that nice? Munkustrap, perhaps it's time for you to choose a mate this year, especially now that you have a queen inquiring after you," Gus said with a grandfatherly smile at Munkustrap.

"I… ah…I…" Munkustrap was speechless. His ears flattened nervously. He glanced at the group of gossiping queens and queens-to-be and couldn't help but wonder which of them had been asking about him.

"And _you_ as well, Tugger," Gus said to the cat with the wild mane.

"Now where's the fun in that? After all, I wouldn't want to disappoint the queens by suddenly becoming unavailable, now would I?" Tugger smirked.

"_Rum Tum Tugger_, I do believe you love bachelorhood far too much," Skimbleshanks said while shaking his head in disapproval.

Tugger grinned widely.

"And what about you four? Any queens in mind?" Skimbleshanks asked the four young toms who were finally eligible this year: Pouncival, Quaxo, Mistoffelees and Tumblebrutus.

Pouncival's tail twitched nervously, Quaxo shyly scratched his ears, Tumblebrutus suddenly found the ground very interesting while Mistoffelees had that deer-in-the-headlights look on his face.

"Well—"

"You see—"

"I don't think—"

"It's too soon to—"

The four nervous young toms chorused their excuses at the same time.

Gus sighed. "Young toms these days. You young 'uns think you have all the time in the world. Back in my day, toms would leap at the chance to finally be able to choose a mate. Why, the Jellicle Ball was much more interesting back then, what with toms competing for their chosen queens."

Many of the still-single toms looked away guiltily— except Rum Tum Tugger, of course, who simply didn't care.

.

.

TBC...

.

.

* * *

_A/N: So here we finally have our second main pairing in this story: Munk/Jemi. They'll be featured quite a bit in future chapters._

_And in case you haven't noticed, Quaxo and Mistoffelees are two separate characters in this story. They have different fur patterns, especially on their legs and paws. So, rather than giving Misto a chameleon-like ability to change the color of his fur, it makes more sense for me to treat them as two separate cats. (Hmm... Chameleon-Misto. Now there's an idea...)_

_(Please ignore the ugly dots on the side. FF .net apparently won't let me add an extra blank space after a paragraph, so I had to make do so as not to make the chapter look horribly scrunched up)._


End file.
